Tuesday, May 29, 2007

10:22 PM

Pirates

Wow. After one week, finally got down to putting down my thoughts on watching Pirates of the Carribbean. Even though it has been awhile, still I will be nice and not put spoilers. lol.

I'm sure all of us who have watched the trailers would have heard the phrase "Welcome to Singapore" many times coming from Chow Yun Fat's mouth. I "saw" Singapore for myself, and frankly, it did not remind me of Singapore at all, despite the fact that they were portraying our country in 1819. It just did not feel like Singapore to me, however obscure it may sound.

The movie itself can only be described in 1 word: "looooonngg".

Too long for my taste, anyway. It was fast-paced despite its length, but half the time I was quite blur about what was going on. Mainly because scenes switched at lightning speed, and half the time not much of the story was actually presented. The audience had to deduce most of it ourselves.

Johnny Depp was still his sway-y pirate self, and he was really amusing. Jack Sparrow is still hilarious as usual, so people who watch the show for him will not be disappointed. But it wasn't all I came for, so Johnny Depp could only go so far in my book.

But the plot itself was rather long-winded, and the director seemed unsure about which part he wanted to show, so he just japalang put everything in. That was why the movie was so long, despite the very quick pace. I could not even grasp the link for some parts. And seriously, the plot was really predictable. While the characters were still pondering the answer, I had already thought of what they would do next.

And the ending was too sad lah. I had half-hoped it would not end up so, but the scriptwriter had to do it to the characters.

Anyway, this entry was typed on my lan pok desktop that does not even have msn. Happily. And I don't dare to install it cos it has a history of hanging whenever I use more than 2 programs at once, so yeah. Hope my laptop comes back soon! :(

Monday, May 21, 2007

11:45 PM

Thoughts

Don't know why I'm doing this and sacrificing my beauty sleep, but just felt the need to put these thoughts down.

Remember all the Chinese drama serials you have watched, be it Taiwan, HK, or Singapore, which will have this young, upbeat newbie enter the workplace, filled to the brim with ideas and ideals, trying to make a mark for him/herself? Then at the workplace there will be this complete opposite, a veteran who's been there done that and scoffs at the young'un, while informing him/her that ideals only exist in dreamland.

Do they?

I'm starting to think so. As much as we see such shows as old clichés, one can't help but see some truth in them. I used to laugh at those idealistic youngsters in the show, and think that they were just caricatures of people new to the workplace and society in general. But as I enter into society, albeit a hiatus from school, I find myself in the role of that idealistic newbie. When someone describes a job to you, there are the things that you are supposed to do. What they neglect to mention is that every job, in essence, is the same.

Building human relations is extremely important. If you are popular, no one gives a damn if you slip up on the job. In fact, they might give you a hand (unless you are competing against them for a major promotion or something). If you are not, then good luck to you. Bosses will like your work, but not you.

While I might have thought that those shows did not reflect the truth, I saw myself in those portrayals. Despite all my cynicism, I am still young, and very inexperienced. It's hard not to be idealistic when you possess these two attributes. While those dramas usually opt for a happy ending when old, skeptical people rediscover their zest in life and start believing in ideals again, how true is that in real life? Can one really reach a compromise between the two?

There will always be people who have grand ideas, but these usually rest on the assumption that society, and people in general, is kind. The average man on the street thinks about himself first and foremost. This is why there is still life - because only the fittest survive.

I know I sound very cynical now, but I really wonder, if man were not such a political creature, would society be a better place? As it is, internship has let me experience lots of things that I only knew in theory. I think those cliche old shows we all used to watch for laughs are actually reflecting life. Maybe that's the reason why we get the joke - because we all, deep down, can relate to it.

This is not a light and fluffy post, and might not be highly readable, but I just wanted to express this out. Depressing, I know, but I think this is a fact of life, and can serve as a reminder for myself.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

11:23 PM

Hey everyone.. ok people have been demanding my wishlist for my birthday.. haha.. so here it is, roughly in order of necessity

Wishlist (may be subject to modifiations)

1. Bag (no brand preference, but must be something that's nice and not of any scary colour)
a)New bag for school (not that kind of dainty little bag that bursts with 1 item)
b)Big bag I can use for travelling or overnight trips
2. Watch (prefered brands - Guess, Fossil)
3. Hard drive
4. New phone (Sony Ericsson, but I am not in touch with the new models now, so no dream phone. lol)
5. Books
a)Jodi Piccoult books (pls check with me which books I already have)
b)Harry Potter books 2 and 3

6. Anime collectibles - Bleach, Gundam Seed (Destiny), Inuyasha, Ouran High
7. Laptop (if anyone can afford it!)

Here's the stuff I don't mind, especially if the above options are too expensive
8. Accessories
9. Angpaos (LOL)
10.Any DVDs/VCDs of nice shows
11.Music CDs
12. Er.. basically anything that is not a soft toy. Too many of those already. :)

OMG I think I am quite demanding.. Haha. Well its a guide, so I might as well make it more detailed and see if anyone will buy me stuff from here.. Thank you all!

Sunday, May 13, 2007

4:45 PM

I'm Finally Home!

Hey guys, after a grueling week, I've finally come back home. OMG. It was an extremely stressful week. My boss was actually quite nice, but being away from home with someone little more than a stranger and with no actual friends to talk to can be extremely lonely. It really made me miss everyone so much. Haiz.

I kept hearing everyone tell me "why u so lucky one, boss bring you go overseas during ur internship". Well, it isn't all its cut out to be. It isn't as exciting as it sounds. It just means you get another stamp on your passport, while doing work overseas with no friends aroung at the same time.

Maybe it was pms, but I really had quite a miserable time there. I'm also not exactly sure which part was so horrible, maybe its just my hormones. lol.

I guess I should go in order of sequence - easier for me to relate my time there. Warning: long, possibly boring description about my life this entire week.

Sunday:
Had to take the bus at 2pm. So early had to leave home already. Guess one of the reasons why I didn't want to go on the trip was cos it really really ate into my weekends. Pui. The ride there was great. Cos my boss booked Nice++, which was really nice. Haha. The seats were very comfy, and there were food and drinks. So I had quite a pleasant journey there. When we reached, we had to go meet our colleagues in the KL branch cos the boss there wanted to treat us to dinner. She's quite a scary person, and I already heard alot of things about her. But the dinner was really not bad. They really have nice food in KL. LOL.

After the very late dinner, we finally went back to the hotel. It looks very presentable from the outside, but is pathetically small. There's only 1 small convenience store, 1 small kopitiam, and 1 room containing 5 computers with internet access. The room was also very small, with the bed taking up most of the space. No table, no phone, only 1 small ledge above the bed to put our things. Sad right? At least the shower was good, with hot water and all, and the bed was comfortable, but a little small.

Monday:
First day of the conference, basically went there and sat through the talks and took notes of relevant points. Unlike many of my friends who dose off during lectures, I enjoy them if the topic is interesting. And the topics did pique my interest, so I paid attention throughout.

But I wasn't able to listen to the entire thing, cos my boss kept making me get up and take pictures of the speakers and stuff. First day was ok, since I mainly just followed her around. But we had another late dinner, cos stupid KL boss wanted us to have dinner together, since big boss arrived in KL also. Pui. Damn tiring lah.

After dinner, we thought we could finally go back and sleep. But NO. Who lets you off that easily lah. We had to wait for another colleague to travel up from Muar to get our namecards, cos we had used up all of ours already. Waited till 1045pm, and all of us were dead tired after that. But i did get to go browse in a bookstore, and bought 2 books. So at least the waiting was not in vain. :)

Tuesday:
Boss did not let me stay in the conference hall and listen. Instead she pushed me outside and made me go around ambushing people to talk to them and do a survey. Hated it. The reason why I hate sales jobs is because I have to be proactive and keep approaching random people. Had to deal with unfriendly people and was quite stressed by my boss, who kept telling me to go and get more cards. I know why she's doing that, and I do know that I get to learn alot through this, but it doesn't make the job easier and more appealing. Nonetheless, I tried, and I was feeling so miserable when my mom called me that I nearly cried. Hai.

But then, my pacing about the place the whole morning did have some results. When my boss walked around with me in the afternoon, people approached me on their own and said that they had seen me working the entire morning. So nice loh! And that showed my boss that I was really doing my work. Haha. :D

We finally had a chance to siam back to the hotel for an early dinner, and we even watched 2 episodes of Hana Kimi. LOL.

Wednesday:
This was the start of the 2nd conference. My boss let me sit in the talks for the morning, and there was even lunch provided for everyone. Damn nice food. And the mini cheesecakes they had were really divine.

But I had to go approach people after lunch again :( Had to do the usual loh. Its really quite sian, doing the same thing over and over again. But I was getting better lah, managed to collect quite alot of cards.

After work, the 2 of us and our msian colleagues (minus scary boss) went out for dinner. Had Japanese buffet. There was so much food to choose from lah, and I really enjoyed myself at dinner. It was fun, and after work, so I was finally able to relax. Its really quite tiring, cos I share a room with my boss, so its like you are constantly worrying if she's assessing you, even when its out of the workplace. She's very nice, but she's still the boss, and no one wants to be with the boss 24/7. Which was my case for 6 full days.

Thursday:
Had to run around the exhibition the entire day, talking to strangers. At least it wasn't that bad, cos the exhibition was quite interesting, and I could wander around looking at the different stalls while doing work. Hahah. So I did not dread it that much. I must say that when I found a fellow Singaporean, I was damn happy, cos its hard to find Singaporeans there, plus some Msians become a little hostile when they find out I'm from Singapore. Haiz.

I met these 2 Singaporeans in the afternoon, and one of them said that he had seen me walking around and talking to everyone. I nearly teared lah. Haha. Was abit emotional already, plus there was someone who finally recognized that I was working hard. My boss always just took the cards I had collected at the end of the day and said I had to collect more the next day. Hai. So it was nice to be acknowledged, especially when its by another Singaporean. This really gave me the motivation to push on and I became more enthusiastic in my job. Recognition rocks!

Friday:
Woke up feeling sick. Had to go downstairs to the counter for something, and my legs were so wobbly lah. Told my boss, and she was rather concerned, but she couldn't leave me there by in the hotel by myself also, so we still went to the conference. I was originally supposed to run around like the previous day, but she let me sit through all the talks, which lasted till afternoon.

Felt slightly better, but after the talks she made me run around again. I wasn't feeling that great, so I did not do much talking to people. I had to literally wear a smile on my face when I was approaching people loh, the rest of the time I was expressionless. Felt quite miserable that day.

When we went back to the hotel, I went online, and saw ALOT of emails awaiting me. Most of them were emails from Aries, Jer and Alan, who were bored at work during the week. All their jokes made me laugh out loud, and I was hit with a huge bout of homesickness. Wini also sent me a long email, which reminded me so much of home. Plus my mom also called at that time, and we talked for awhile. I had been literally cut off from everyone the whole week, other then the calls to home everyday, so it was really a comfort to read stuff from you guys. They made me feel so much better all of a sudden. Thanks guys.

After that, when we were back in the hotel room watching hana kimi, aries, jer and alan called! Was so shocked to see Aries's number on my phone lah, and I was damn touched to know that they still thought of me when they were out. Couldn't stop smiling after that, and couldn't wait to get home.

Saturday:
Finally, the day when I could go home. But wasn't feeling well again. Woke up with cramps that were damn bad. Went into the office for a meeting, then kl boss took us for ba kut teh somewhere ulu. Had to drive for like 20 min at top speed to get there, and during the entire ride i was really feeling very unwell. Had cramps, and was feeling nauseous. Went to the toilet when we arrived and stayed there for very long.

I finally emerged and was feeling better, only to let kl boss pile food on my plate. Cmon lah, I just felt nauseous and you are stuffing me with oily ba kut teh? At least it was delicious. lol. And she only stopped giving me food when I turned to her with a very serious look and asked "If I eat too much and puke in ur car, how?" That shut her up.

Anyway, I dont know if it was cos I finally had food in my stomach or the excitement of going home, but I felt so much better after lunch. We finally boarded the bus home! Damn happy to be back.

But sian, have to go work tomorrow. But I'm still a little sick, and I really feel like staying home tomorrow. How?

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

12:14 AM

Sianness.. I came online too late I think.. Everyone who has internship has gone to sleep, so the result is I have no one to talk to! Damn SIAN. Cos I wanna complain, even at the risk of sounding like a spoilt kid. LOL.

The hotel here sucks. To quote my boss, "don't ask me what it doesn't have. Ask me what it has, and I can tell you in one breath." And its true loh! This is a freaking BUDGET hotel. Ok lah. At least it has free internet, you know, so I can sit here and blog what I feel. But then, I would not be here in the first place if the hotel issues more than 1 card per room. WTH.

But then, at least its clean. Its just too small, with minimal creature comforts. There's not even a table, for goodness sake. PUI.

People I'm bored. Someone. Talk. To. Me.

Sunday, May 06, 2007

12:01 PM

Hey everyone! I'm going off to KL for the week.. Not sure which day I'm coming back also.. :(

Shall update if I can! Cya all in a week's time!

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

11:51 PM

Spiderman 3

Well, the long awaited movie is here. And I watched it on the 2nd day it came out! *cue fangirl squeals*

What can I say? That it was brilliant, exciting and thought-provoking? Not quite. The action sequences were cool, no doubt, and I really think the black spiderman was CGI-ed extremely well. There was suspense, and definitely a climax....

But wait. I'm just talking about the action sequences you know.

I'm definitely not gonna reveal anything substantial about the plot, since its only been but a day the movie came out, but I still want to review this movie. Its not going to be that flattering, so diehard fans of spiderman might not want to continue.

So. What did I think of it? I really could not find a real 重点 (to quote aries) in the entire movie. The show did flow, but I just found too many villians in the movie. It was like they were trying to squeeze all the villians "Spiderman" the comic had into the movie. Personally, the second movie was so much better. It was about how Spiderman had to discover his calling, and to put his powers to good use. The most important part that distinguished 2 and 3 was that 2 wasn't cliched, even though some lines were quite cheesy. That was the first superhero movie that made me feel that such shows could be intelligent as well. This one tried, I could tell, but it just fell short somehow. The storyline was there, but sadly it just did not convince me.

Spiderman seemed more to me like an undisguised reference to America. One extremely obvious moment was when he swung in to save the day, and there was a 3-second (roughly) scene of Spiderman with the American flag in the background. I never did realise that Spiderman's uniform was of the colours of the American flag. But well, save the patriotism, I came to watch a movie, Uncle Sam!

The movie was 2 hours. But it seemed to get tired of itself towards the end, and rushed to finish things up. Everything was neatly tied up, but not without a few clichéd quotes thrown in at the end.

Ok I may seem to be slamming the movie, but it really wasn't that bad. It was just that it started out not bad, but seemed to run out of steam towards the end. Oh, and the 2 leads did not do such a good job either. Thank goodness for the villians, who at least tried. There were parts when I really enjoyed the movie. Its just like Harry Potter over again. I had high hopes for the movie, but it fell short. To someone without these expectations, it might just get 4 stars out of 5.

11:49 PM

The Cathay

I love The Cathay. Even its toilets have class lah. Listening to "Rainbow Connection" while in the toilet. I like.. :)